Improvement in sewing-machines



. y Sheets-Sheet I. C. HODGKINS. Y

.iiv)

N, PETERS Phalo-l lhognphen wmln mn. 04 c.

Sewing Machine. I No. 10,622. V Patented March 7,1854.

UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE. V q

CHRISTOPHER HODGKINS, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO NEHEMIAHHUNT. y

IMPROVEME T IN SEWING-VMACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No; L622, dated March 71854.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER HODGKINS, ofBoston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Sewing-Machines; and I dohereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in thefollowing specification and the accompanying" drawings, letters,figures, and references thereof.

Of the said drawings, Figure 1 denotes a side elevation of my improvedsewin g-machine. Fig. 2 is a front end'view of it as it appears with theturning part of its stand or table removed. Fig. 3 is an under side Viewof it. In Fig. 4 are separate views of the lower or horizontal needle. 1

My invention consists in a peculiar arrangement of the eye of the upperor vertical needle, together with a peculiar mode of forming andoperating the lower needle; and my invention has reference to machineswhich sew by the conjoint operation of two needles, one of which passesthrough the cloth,while the other works on one side of it.

In the drawings, A denotes the upper or vertical needle, and B theloweror horizontal one, the upper needle being caused to puncturethe cloth.The upper needle is attached to a carrier, 0, that is worked up and downby' means of a bent lever, D, and a cam, E, (see Fig. 5,which denotesthe shape of the groove of this cam as developed on a plane 'surface,)in the usual way, the said cam being fixed on the driving-shaft F. Theeye a of the needle A is bored through from front to rear of themachine-that is to say, in the direction parallel to the axis of thedriving-shaft. The thread from the upper needle is taken from a spool,G, and carried through guides b 'c, (the latter of which is fixed on thetop of the needle-carrier,) and thence down on the front side of theneedle and through its eye a in a direction toward the fly-wheel H. Thelower needle is formed with a hookor bent end, as seen at d, and it hasits eye carried through its shank in or closeinto the vertex of theangle made by the shank e and the part 11. The said part d is bent outhorizontally, and perpendicularly, or thereabout, to the shank e. Thethread from the lower needle is taken from a spool, I, is carriedthrough a guide, f, and passes along on the right side of the shank'e ofthe needle.

which is gropved throughout its length properly to receive it, andthencethrough the eye of the needle, going from the concave to theconvex side of the needle. The said needleis attached to the front endof the bar or needlecarrier K, which rests on the top of a camplate, L,that has an angular groove or slot formed in it, as seen at M in Figs. 3and 6, the latter being aseparate view of such cam-plate.

A pin or stud, N, having a diameter equal to the width of the groove M,extends from the carrier and into the groove. The rear end of thecarrier K is jointed to one end of a bent lever, 0, whose other endplays on a fulcrum,

P, the whole being arranged as seen in Fig. 3; A stud, Q, from such bentlever 0 works in the groove R of a cam, S, fixed on the drivingshaft,the said stud Q being shownin'Fig. 7, which is a central, vertical, andlongitudinal section of the machine. The reform of the grooveR of thecam Sis represented in Fig.

8 on a plane surface.

The feeding apparatus of my machine is not new, and forms no part of mypresent invention. It will therefore be unnecessary for me to go intoany explanation'of the same.

The operation of my machine is as follows:

The vertical needle passes downward through the cloth, and next rises upa short distance in order to belly its loop, which loop or threadstands. outward from therear side of the needle. Next the lower orhorizontal needle is moved laterally, so as to cause its hook or part dto pass between the bellying-thread and vertical needle and catch thethread upon the shank 6. Next the horizontal needle is moved forward ina direction not perpendicular with the line of sewing, but at an acuteangle therewith, so as to cause the eye of the lower needle to project alittle to the left of the upper nee dle. The upper needle is next raisedentirely out of the cloth, and the lower needle drawn back a shortdistance in the meantime. Next" the upper needle descends through thecloth and passes down between the left side of the shank of the lowerneedle and that-part of the thread which extends from the eye ofthelower needle. to the cloth. Immediately after-the point of thevertical needle has descended below the horizontal needle, thehorizontal needle is moved backward until it gets beyond the verticalneedle, when it is moved laterally to the left, so as to throw off fromit the loop previously taken from the vertical needle and allow the sameto be drawn into the cloth during the upward movement of the verticalneedle. In this manner the operation of sewing is carried on by thismachine.

The advantages of my machine consist, first, in the simplicity of itsconstruction and operation; second, in the gain of a wide space betweenthe lower need-le and its thread, for the upper needle to pass throughduring its de scent, the same enabling us to work the upper needle atsuch a distance from the side of the lower needle as to prevent anypossibility of injurious contact of the two and accident therefrom, suchas the straight-needle machines are constantly liable to; third, by thelower needle moving in the direction in which the cloth In testimonywhereof I have hereto set my signature this 19th day of April, A. D.1853.

CHRISTOPHER HODGKINS.

Vitn esses R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr.

